Costumed characters spread from Times Square to Coney Island, Lower Manhattan
NEW YORK (WABC) -- The debate over costumed characters is spreading and so are the characters.
They are now popping up not only in Times Square, but on Coney Island and other parts of New York City.
Tensions are starting to boil over.
Not very ladylike, in Battery Park Eyewitness News caught the Statue of Liberty having a verbal spat with a tourist.
"He keeps saying that, 'take a free picture' and he wants money for taking the picture with him," a tourist said.
The heated exchange strikes a nerve with park police who are now on the lookout in Lower Manhattan for the same costumed characters who've taken over other parts of the city.
"Around 10:30 I went outside and was trying to catch those people, costume characters," said Marco Bedoya, of Statue Cruises.
And he did Monday morning; he spotted a pair of mice and a video game character.
About a week ago, topless women who've set up shot in Times Square headed south to this park.
"Off the bat we already knew with the statue guy and them going there, you have two groups competing with tourists for tips, it's going to be a problem," said Robinson Santana, of Statue Cruises.
It's something the NYPD acknowledges and so it's now creating a new unit; officers in Times Square who will focus on these characters who, for the first time in July, started popping up in Coney Island.
"If you become aggressive and start arguing with tourist, that's going to deter them to come back and we all suffer," Santana said.
On this new issue of character spillover, a city task force is looking at what regulations are in place, say for city streets versus parks.
"Can there be a re-categorization to ID certain areas in a way to help limit or crack down on more aggressive and nuisance behavior," said Phil Walzak, the mayor's spokesperson.
Lady Liberty insists she wasn't demanding that tourist fork over cash.
"So you wanted a donation?" Eyewitness News asked.
"1 dollar, 2 dollars, 3 dollars," the character said.
